Opinion

A Green Future For Cities

My eyes had reluctantly adjusted to the draught-ravaged drabness. The burned oaks and orchards. The perpetual khaki of the chaparral dying of thirst. And then we had rain! Good rain, followed by…

Strange Fruit

The U.S. Department of Justice is planning to resume the execution of death row inmates for the first time since 2003. Many of the states have been at it since then—Texas has…

Yankee Doodle

I was surprised to discover that my local library’s two copies of Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five were checked out and that I would have to wait my turn at it. I then…

Letters – July 26, 2019

Keep Our Stories Going A Tale of Two Nations was an amazing article. I am from the Choctaw tribe and lived in Topanga for 16 years. I can relate to the story.…

Libra, Facebook’s New Currency…

Facebook is poised to launch a new banking system, a global financial platform, capable of seamlessly processing world-wide, cross-border financial transactions. Libra, the first incarnation of its new cryptocurrency, will be aimed…

Dandelion Wine

Dandelion Wine. I’ve never tasted it, but reading Ray Bradbury’s book of that title, makes me long to. Summer in a bottle is how Mr. Bradbury describes the wine; glowing and warm,…

Woodstock at 50

We are stardust, we are golden We are billion year old carbon And we got to get ourselves back to the garden — “Woodstock” (Joni Mitchell) It’s been said that, “If you…

Letters – July 12, 2019

More on Emergency Management Additional inquiry by Jane Terjung has contributed some clarification to the Messenger Mountain News report (“Saving Ourselves is Complicated,” by Flavia Potenza, June 28, 2019) about the Topanga…

God of the Sky In July: Jupiter

Perhaps the most interesting planets in a small telescope are Jupiter and Saturn. These giant planets will be featured in our skies in the month of July and all summer. Both are…

Power Surge 101

Topanga Canyon is the edge of the un-burned wildlands. This spring has found us out of the drought, exploding with new growth, but adding to the possibility of future fires. To mitigate…